For Abused Native American Women, New Law Provides A 'Ray Of Hope'

Deborah Parker, vice chair of the Tulalip Tribes of Washington state, reacts to President Barack Obama signing the Violence Against Women Act in 2013 in Washington.

Manuel Balce Ceneta
/ AP

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This Thursday, three Native American tribes are changing how they administer justice.

For almost four decades, a U.S. Supreme Court ruling has barred tribes from prosecuting non-American Indian defendants. But as part of last year's re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act, a new program now allows tribes to try some non-Indian defendants in domestic abuse cases.

It will be another year before the program expands to other eligible federally-recognized tribes around the country in March 2015. But the Department of Justice has selected three tribes to exercise this authority first, including the Pascua Yaqui Tribe of Arizona, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Oregon, and the Tulalip Tribes, located north of Seattle.

'Going To War'

Deborah Parker serves as the Tulalip Tribes' vice chair. For three years, she flew back and forth between Washington state and Washington, D.C., giving speeches and knocking on doors — an experience that she says felt like "going to war."

"You got to go to battle," Parker says, "and you have to convince a lot of people that native women are worth protecting,"

And that protection, Parker was convinced, had to come from Congress. So she pushed for legislation allowing American Indian tribes to prosecute non-Indian defendants in domestic violence cases.

About four out of every ten women of American Indian or Alaskan Native descent have "experienced rape, physical violence or stalking by an intimate partner," according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It's an alarming statistic that Parker knows all too well from growing up on the reservation.

"We didn't have a strong police presence when I was younger. Even [if you called] the police, often they didn't respond," she says. "When they did, they would say, 'Oh, it's not our jurisdiction, sorry.' [And] prosecutors wouldn't show up."

A Question Of Jurisdiction

Jurisdiction is the key word in this discussion.

In 1978, the Supreme Court ruled in Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe that tribal governments have no jurisdiction over crimes committed by non-Native Americans on tribal land.

Instead, tribes have to rely on federal prosecutors to take on such cases, and prosecutors have not always been able or willing to consistently pursue reports of domestic violence.

Deborah Parker and other advocates pushed to address this issue — and some lawmakers in Congress pushed back.

One of the most vocal opponents of the new program was Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa. He voiced his concerns about the constitutionality of the program during a Senate debate last February, weeks before the Violence Against Women Act was reauthorized.

"The key stumbling block to enacting a bill at this time is the provision concerning Indian tribal courts," Grassley said, referring to a provision that allows American Indian tribal courts to have jurisdiction over non-Indians accused of domestic violence.

Stepping Towards A Solution

But Fred Urbina, chief prosecutor for the Pascua Yaqui Tribe, says the provision that passed is fairly complicated and narrow. "This basically helped it pass through Congress and get approval, so everybody's describing this as a first step," he says.

The "special domestic violence criminal jurisdiction" program is limited to certain domestic violence cases involving non-Native American defendants who are in existing relationships with Native Americans and living or working on the reservation. In Alaska, it only applies to the Metlakatla Indian Community of Annette Islands Reserve.

Still, the Pascua Yaqui Tribe's Attorney General Amanda Sampson Lomayesva says the program will offer a new route for justice.

"It is a ray of hope," she says "Maybe we can start protecting people and having the tribal members who live here on the reservation feel like something will be done."

Brent Leonhard, an attorney for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, also sees the program as a partial solution to "a mess created both by a Supreme Court decision and by federal law and policy."

"This is a step towards trying to improve that," he says.

Parker acknowledges that the program "doesn't answer all the questions" about how tribal governments can play a more direct role in addressing crime by non-Native Americans.

"But it allows us to exert jurisdiction and arrest those who violate protection orders [and commit] dating violence [or] domestic violence," says Parker, who adds that she hopes the program will give a stronger voice to more Native American women.

Copyright 2014 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

Transcript

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Audie Cornish.

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

And I'm Robert Siegel. Today, three Native American tribes are changing how they administer justice. For almost 40 years, a U.S. Supreme Court ruling has barred tribes from prosecuting non-American Indian defendants. But a new program now allows some non-Indian defendants to be tried in domestic abuse cases. It's a result of last year's reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act.

NPR's Hansi Lo Wang reports on the first tribe selected to exercise this authority.

HANSI LO WANG, BYLINE: For three years, Deborah Parker flew back and forth between Washington state and Washington D.C. She's the vice chair of the Tulalip tribes located north of Seattle and she remembers going to the nation's capital to give speeches, knock on doors.

DEBORAH PARKER: I feel like I'm at war or you're going to war. You got to go to battle and you have to convince a lot of people that native women are worth protecting.

WANG: And that protection, Parker was convinced, had to come from Congress. So she pushed for legislation allowing American Indian tribes to prosecute non-Indian defendants in domestic violence cases. About four out of every 10 women of American Indian or Alaskan Native descent have experienced rape, physical violence or stalking by an intimate partner, an alarming statistic from the Center of Disease Control and Prevention that Parker knows all too well from growing up on the reservation.

PARKER: We didn't have a strong police presence when I was younger, even calling the police, often they didn't respond. When they did, they would say, oh, it's not our jurisdiction, sorry. And prosecutors wouldn't show up.

WANG: Jurisdiction is the key word here. In 1978, the Supreme Court ruled that tribal governments have no jurisdiction over crimes committed by non-Native Americans on tribal land. Instead, tribes have to rely on federal prosecutors to take on such cases and prosecutors have not always been able or willing to consistently pursue reports of domestic violence.

Deborah Parker and other advocates push to address this issue and some in Congress pushed back.

SENATOR CHARLES GRASSLEY: The key stumbling block to enacting a bill at this time is the provision concerning Indian tribal courts.

WANG: Republican Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa spoke on the Senate floor last February, weeks before the Violence Against Women Act was reauthorized. That provision he mentioned would've allowed American Indian tribal courts to have jurisdiction over all non-Indians accused of domestic violence. But the law that passed last year isn't quite so broad.

URBINA: This basically helped it pass though Congress and get approval so everybody's describing this as a first step.

WANG: The program is limited to cases involving non-Native American defendants in existing relationships with Native Americans. Still, the Pascua Yaqui tribe's attorney general, Amanda Sampson Lomayesva, says the program will offer a new route for justice.

AMANDA SAMPSON LOMAYESVA: It is a ray of hope. Maybe we can start protecting people and having the tribal members who live here on the reservation feel like something will be done.

PARKER: It doesn't answer all the questions, but it allows us to exert jurisdiction and arrest those who violate protection orders, dating violence, domestic violence.

WANG: And Deborah Parker of the Tulalip tribe says she hopes the program will give a stronger voice to more Native American women. For now, it's limited to her tribe and the Pascua Yaqui, along with the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla India Reservation in Oregon. It will be another year before the program expands to other eligible federally recognized tribes. Hansi Lo Wang, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.